Help Me Decide a Race for Ranger

Hey guys, I was just wanting to know what YOU think about what race will be best for ranger. My main purpose for picking the race will be for the WvW and also SPvP. I know that the racial abilities WONT be able to be used in SPvP but, the smaller the race I feel the harder it will be for people to spot me which gives me an advantage in both SPvP and WvW.

Now, while racial abilities aren't able to be used in SPvP, they ARE able to be used in WvW and although the racial abilities are suppose to be watered down versions of profession abilities, some of those abilities might be really nice to have as a ranger. I was thinking I wanted to be a Sylvari, but I found that some of the abilities just were watered down versions of the rangers utilities and not other professions, besides, I kind of felt like the Sylvari racials just aren't very intriguing.

I'm having the hardest time picking a race because, say I am a char ranger and it gives me a rocket jump utility that I could really use and would be better to use over one of my profession utilities because of the mobility it gives me. I feel that would give me a distinct advantage in WvW over a Sylvari who only gives me mostly watered down versions of skills I already have as a ranger.

I just want to know everyone's opinion on what they think the best race for a ranger for SPvP and WvWvW would be and why. I understand that the size might or might not give that much of an advantage being the big red name tag above you, but I really feel that in the heat of the moment it might add a second or two to someone finding and targeting me if I am smaller which would definitely be a nice advantage. Thanks guys! Leave feedback! Also if you want to check out my build, I will post a link to it and explain it somewhat (and don't be afraid to comment on it!)

Just for a quick gist of the build. The build is meant for a high amount of crit, as you can see it has a base crit of 62% and 48 crit damage. With the build you are able to keep up the fury buff for quite some time which gives you an extra 20% crit (bringing you to 82% crit). The rune I have on the bow has a 10% chance to apply vulnerability on a crit so every crit I not only have a chance to apply bleeds and also am guaranteed giving my pet might, but I also can stack up vulnerability on the opponent. Plus, with this build I have the stone spirit for a nice amount of survivability and quickness which would be used in sync with Rapid Fire to double the number of shots in the channeled time. If you have any comments for it leave them below or pm me! Thanks guys! (P.S. I know the build was off topic, just post on it if you want. The main point of this post is to pick a race!)

Honestly, I wouldn't decide a race based on their special skills. They are likely to be nerfed into oblivion or equalized across the board if they provide any advantage, since doing otherwise would contradict Anet's "pick what you want, race is an aesthetic/story choice" policy. There are going to be a ton of complains if Sylvari are better at X class or Norn make poor members of Y profession.

What I would recommend is going for the race you think looks and feels most awesome as a ranger. Watch a video or two for each race to demonstrate their combat animations. Look over the collections of dungeon and culture armor to find sets you really love. Pick the race that makes you feel like the ranger you want to play, because a year down the line, those racial skills won't likely make a difference, but the animations and armor styles will remain.

Every race has the same hit box, so race makes no difference in that respect.
The only thing that can be considered to impact is an Asura's size, so they are harder to see to some people compared to a massive Norn.

Haha, yeah, Matsy, that is what I am getting at when it comes to size. The amount of time it will add to people seeing you. Also, I would pick an Asura, buttt I'm definitely not really big on the Asura... after some contemplation, I think I might go with a human ranger. We will see I guess haha

Honestly, I wouldn't decide a race based on their special skills. They are likely to be nerfed into oblivion or equalized across the board if they provide any advantage, since doing otherwise would contradict Anet's "pick what you want, race is an aesthetic/story choice" policy. There are going to be a ton of complains if Sylvari are better at X class or Norn make poor members of Y profession.

This. I don't think any form of PvP should have a dependency on race.

Other than aesthetics, the only bearing race has are the racial skills and these are not allowed in sPvP. I hope ANet would also disallow them for WvW after release.

This leaves only PvE where you can come up with synergistic skill combo between your racial skills and your profession skills. This is why I decided to go with the Sylvari for my Ranger because of Grasping Vines, and I can access that utility at a low level. Sure I can use Entangle at level 30+ but I am sure there would be many other elite options competing for that single skill slot by then.

I'm in the same boat, deciding what race my toons will be.As hitbox-cylinder, run speed and weapon-reach are the same for all races. So these are no criteria.visibility difference is only minor as the name tags are shown on every toon and in most situation the difference in size won't matter (much).Perception of skill animations maybe an issue (in sPvP) as it is much easier to recognize certain animations on a bigger toon than on a tiny Asura. This is something for the minmax'ers of us and will be not much of an issue over the course of the game. (situation awareness is a way bigger factor in sPvP)

I made myself some criteria:Bear in mind that you will look at your toon for quite some time So it's style >>> performance. (coolness factor, skill animations, armor visual and emotes).

Sylvari animations are very alike to humans (boring). The Asura animations are the most different.Norn are not really an option, seriously.Charr are kinda cute but overall I see them as ugly (esp. the females).

That having said, Asura are simply the greatest dudes ever ;-) (And you have the added bonus of being Small, so you can hide behind Walls where a Norn wouldn't be able to hide...and they are awesome! Their animations, absolutely hilariously adorable :-) )

Plus Asura Ranger have that "Underdog"-Feel, because Asura will be among the least-played races, and among asura, Ranger will probably be one of the least-played classes...

My second choice would be a Norn because I think they are pretty cool. My third would be Asura just because everyone picks Sylvari and I don't like the Charr. However, if you are just making it for PvP you might as well be Asura so you are small.

There's no animation that the ranger performs that will alert a player, "Oh crap, I need to dodge now". So whether you pick a giant Norn or a tiny Asura makes no difference. As far as tab targeting goes, the closest gets selected. Same goes for click targeting. If a tiny Asura is slightly in front of a giant Norn, who although visually dominates the space, the Asura, who's hitbox is the same size will be selected.

The two races that have the most unique animations are the Asura and the Charr. My ranger in BWE3 was Charr and his bow animations were fantastic. The way they run is amazing.

Human or Sylvari. Females in particular are interesting. I like how they hold greatswords.

LOL Im not sure if this was meant to be funny. Either way, exellent job!

Everyone Else!: Thank you so much for your imput I am stuck on picking either Human or Sylvari, I kind of want to pick the Human just because the armor looks badass on them and the Sylvari is going to be overflowing with rangers. But, at the same time, I really like the racials of the Sylvari, they feel really rangerish. (I don't think hell dogs are very rangerish!)

LOL Im not sure if this was meant to be funny. Either way, exellent job!

Everyone Else!: Thank you so much for your imput I am stuck on picking either Human or Sylvari, I kind of want to pick the Human just because the armor looks badass on them and the Sylvari is going to be overflowing with rangers. But, at the same time, I really like the racials of the Sylvari, they feel really rangerish. (I don't think hell dogs are very rangerish!)

Well, you can turn into Avatar of Melandru as Human. That is quite Rangerish.

My character is norn ranger and I quite like it. Armor looks decent on him (apart from some excessively huge shoulder pads) and weapons are decently sized and visible (again, except some ridiculous models). I don't use racial skills much, I'd say they are the weakest of all races. If only animal forms were actually useful.

Mind you, if Largos rangers were available, I'd be playing one right now.

Of the reasons you mentioned I can only say the Asura. Honestly, the racial skills are useless, especially since the ranger already have a couple of decent elites and much more usable utility skills. If you don't want to get spotted, Asura is the way to go.

But the difference is minimal. Your pet will still be pretty darn visible and your name will still be shown. Though your chances are better, the difference is so darn slim that I'd say you shouldn't pick a race you don't want for that profession just for this.